Manuale Tipografico by G. Bodoni

Printed posthumously in two volumes by Bodoni’s widow, Margherita Dall’Aglio (who continued to run her husband’s printing press), the Manuale Tipografico contained over 600 illustrations featuring Latin and exotic types, as well as over 1,000 edgings and flourishes etched by the great printer himself. This reprint adds, to the previous two, a third volume in four languages by Professor Angelo Ciavarella, director of the Museo Bodoniano from the 1970s to 1993. In addition to a historical-bibliographical essay on Bodoni’s creative and foundry work, the volume is enhanced by previously unpublished documents of the utmost importance, such as layout drafts, sketches, never-before-seen papers, letters, stencil inventories, etc., all of them exact replicas of the originals. This edition preserves the exquisiteness of the work, with entirely leather-bound volumes and vat-dyed flyleaves identical to period paper, prepared thanks to the lucky discovery of the original watermarking form, which once belonged to Marie-Louise, the Duchess of Parma.